Since people have been picking his matches with Shawn Michaels and Bret Hart, I'm going for one of the most underrated Wrestlemania gems ever: his match against Undertaker at Wrestlemania 12.
We've got Vince McMahon and Jerry Lawler on commentary here. Prepare for some wackiness. And, indeed, McMahon's great philosophical question to wrestle with: "Will Big Daddy Cool Diesel rest in pieces? (yes, pieces)" Lawler brings up the Egyptian plagues and compares them to Undertaker's tactics against Diesel.
They attack each other quickly and trade blows. Diesel hits running clothesline in the corner but runs into a boot in the other corner. Taker clotheslines him down, but he misses a running elbow drop and does the zombie sit-up. Diesel clotheslines Taker over the top, but Taker lands on his feet on the floor and pulls Diesel by the legs under the bottom rope. Taker hits a series of uppercuts, working over Diesel's ribs. Diesel keeps him from going up the apron and tries to slam his head into the stairs, but Taker blocks and does the same to Nash. Back in the ring, Diesel puts his head down after an Irish whip and Taker lands an uppercut to the chin. Taker sets up a tombstone but Diesel powers out of it. Taker ducks a clothesline and hits a bodypress (!) for 2. The pace here is frenetic.
Taker does the old-school armbar, ropewalk and punch to the neck. Diesel fails to go down. Diesel ducks some sort of spinning thing and Undertaker lands under the ropes. Diesel grabs him by the hair, but Taker snaps his neck over the top rope. Taker gets back in the ring and his second punch knocks Diesel over the ropes. Nash is bumping really well here. Undertaker follows him out and pushes Diesel back-first to the ring post. Taker tries to waffle Diesel with a chair, but he manages to duck. Diesel takes control with a kneelift to the chest, and he throws Taker into the guard rail. Diesel rams Taker's back into the post twice. He takes a little time to intimidate Paul Bearer, then goes into the ring and poses. McMahon excitedly mentions that the Ultimate Warrior is on the 1-900 WWF hot line, but we are, in fact, having the ultimate matchup right here.
Diesel rams his knee into Taker, preventing him from enter into the ring. He pulls Taker in the second time and gets a big boot. McMahon believes Diesel is dominating the Undertaker like no one has done before and that the jackknife is imminent. Announcer Vince always believed the babyface was in instant jeopardy no matter how much or how little punishment they'd received. Diesel measures Taker and wails on him with punches. They be clubberin', as Dusty Rhodes might say. Nash has always had pretty good strikes. Diesel lands a sideslam for 2.
Diesel hits the snake eyes and the Boss Man straddle. It's funny how many moves Diesel does in this match that Undertaker ended up later stealing. Diesel signals for the jackknife, but first hits a series of knees and punches in the corner. Taker is really selling the beating. He makes a comeback and both punch each other simultaneously, followed by a double big boot, which actually looked good. The double count reaches 8 before Taker sits up, though Diesel actually makes it to his feet first and lands an ax handle to the back. He follows with a bear hug, in which Taker makes little effort to fight. Suddenly, he gets out with a double slap to the head. Diesel grabs a side headlock, but Taker hits a backdrop suplex and follows with an elbow drop.
Taker hits a top-rope clothesline for 2 (which beat King King Bundy at Wrestlemania 11). Diesel ducks a move and hits a surprise powerbomb. But he gets cocky and stalls forever (you'd have thought he'd have learned after losing the belt to Bret Hart), and Taker does the zombie sit-up again. Diesel hits another jackknife and stalls again, taunting the crowd and Paul Bearer. When he finally goes for the cover, Taker grabs him by the throat. Diesel punches him down and tries again, but Taker gets the throat again. Diesel fights him off again and clutches his throat in pain, and when he tries the pin again Taker grabs him by the throat and rises to his feet. Diesel manages a backdrop suplex, though. Great segment. Diesel slowly gets up, but Taker does another zombie sit-up behind his back. When Nash turns around, he initially begs off and then attacks, but Taker no sells and goes on the attack, hitting Nash with a flying clothesline. He follows with a chokeslam, and both are worn out.Undertaker makes it up first, though, and does the urn pose. He then hits Diesel with the tombstone for 3 in 16:46. And there was much rejoicing from the crowd.
Believe it or not, this is a hell of a match. It told a good story, with Diesel being able to match Undertaker physically but being unprepared for his resilience. The action and selling were very good.It's the first classic Wrestlemania match in Undertaker's career (an an underrated one too just like maybe his five other Wrestlemania matches), and the best Nash match I'm aware of that didn't involve Shawn Michaels or Bret Hart.
